PayPal Brings In ‘Silver Tech’ Segment Amid Pandemic

As individuals throughout the country stay in their residences to avoid spreading the virus and cash is viewed as a germ risk, PayPal is bringing in a new segment amid stay-at-home shutdowns. Individuals beyond the age of 50 comprised the payment firm’s quickest growing demographic between March and April, CNBC reported.

CFO John Rainey said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference per the report that the group of “silver tech” assisted in bringing the company’s total payment volume to “pre-Covid” levels. Rainey said, “We think that these are some sustainable trends in our business.”

An AARP survey discovered that almost 70 percent of individuals polled under 50 utilized PayPal in comparison to approximately 50 percent for those above 50. Approximately one-third of younger respondents utilize Venmo in comparison to only 9 percent of those above 50. Venmo has approximately 52 million active users due to its popularity with younger segments.

eCommerce, as a whole, has seen a rise from the shutdowns in the age of the pandemic. Visa and Mastercard registered an over 40 percent increase in online shopping in their Q2 results.

The pandemic has disrupted the lives of millions of consumers, whether via job loss, health complications, stay-at-home mandates or more general anxiety about what is in store in the future as consumers throughout the country share the experience of being stuck in their residences. 

But not all areas of life have shut down during the pandemic. Many consumers are still engaging in many of their pre-pandemic activities online. Forty-two percent of consumers indicate that they are performing those kinds of routine activities more frequently than they did pre-pandemic.

Additionally, three out of every 10 consumers are not only going online to work, to shop and for leisure more often since the start of the pandemic — they are also intending to continue doing so at least somewhat as frequently as they currently do.